The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kassanda, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kassanda District Local Government has alleged that it is losing at least 1.5 billion Shillings daily in revenue to artisanal and small-scale gold miners.
The LCV Chairperson, Kasirye Zimula, revealed that they have investigated and discovered that more than four kilograms of gold worth 1.5 billion Shillings are sneaked out of Kassanda without royalties being paid to the district coffers.
Zumula says that the district administration has been referred by the miners to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development for royalties. He added that when approached, the Ministry told them Kassanda mining area is still under exploration.
URN understands more than 30,000 artisanal and small-scale miners, pit owners, mineral processors, and dealers are operating in the Kisita, Bukuya, and Kagaba Hill mines, among others in Kassanda.
In 2017, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni abolished the tax for gold royalties to encourage its flow into the country. But in July 2021, the Government introduced a new tax on processed and unprocessed gold which was protested by gold miners.
While royalties were removed, a tax on gold export remained; a 5 percent tax on local and 1 percent on smuggled or imported gold.
Zumula wants the government to work out a modality to enable the district to benefit from the gold mined in Kassanda.
Zumula also told the Leader of Opposition – LOP in Parliament, Mathias Mpuuga that gold mining activities were polluting the environment orchestrated by the use of mercury and rudimentary tools.
But Mpuuga allayed fears that so much gold worth three billion is being smuggled out of Kassanda and questioned the government’s plan for districts with gold minerals. He said that such areas should have good road infrastructure like the oil roads in Hoima.
In 2021, the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development issued a directive to halt the implementation of the five percent levy (US$200) on each kilogram of gold exported from the country after exporters sought a court interim order exempting payment of taxes on gold exports.
Despite a statutory instrument for the collection of taxes on gold which was instituted after Parliament amended and passed the Mining and Minerals Act, 2022, in March 2023, Ruth Nankabirwa, the Minister for Energy and Minerals Development directed the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to halt the recovery of gold export taxes worth over 627 billion Shillings.
At the time, the LOP criticized the Minister on the floor of the House arguing noting that the Government is struggling to raise revenue to finance the budget and yet it is reluctant to collect taxes.
The Auditor General in its report on the performance of URA for the Financial Year 2021/2022, noted that URA failed to collect 340 billion in taxes from gold exports, which was estimated to be recovered after the five percent levy was implemented.
****
URN
